Did Plague Destroy the Roman Empire?

The Ancients

History Hit

History

4.7 • 3.5K Ratings

🗓️ 11 May 2025

⏱️ 69 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

War, invasion, civil unrest… or plague? Could a series of deadly pandemics have helped bring down the mighty Roman Empire?

In the third episode of our Fall of Rome mini-series, Tristan Hughes is joined by Professor Kyle Harper – author of The Fate of Rome – to explore how disease and climate change may have crippled this superpower of the ancient world. From the Antonine Plague of the 160s AD to the terrifying Cyprianic Plague that ravaged Carthage and beyond, this episode investigates how pandemics devastated populations, shattered economies, and reshaped imperial policy.

Join us as we uncover the dark side of Roman history – a world of weeping sores, mass graves, and myths of divine vengeance – and ask the big question: Could nature have delivered the final blow to the Roman Empire?

Lessons from the Antonine Plague:

https://open.spotify.com/episode/1wsEtmlqkwqLbQlgZ8TW1L

Plague of Athens:

https://open.spotify.com/episode/1al8GluN7NBvuzXayHe74F

Presented by Tristan Hughes. Audio editor is Aidan Lonergan, the producer is Joseph Knight. The senior producer is Anne-Marie Luff.

All music courtesy of Epidemic Sounds

The Ancients is a History Hit podcast.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, I'm Tristan Hughes, and if you would like the ancient ad-free, get early access and bonus episodes, sign up to History Hit.
0:08.1	With a History Hit subscription, you can also watch hundreds of hours of original documentaries, including my recent documentary all about Petra and the Nabatans, and enjoy a new release every week.
0:19.3	Sign up now by visiting historyhit.com slash subscribe.
0:25.2	Fevertree Mediterranean tonic water. Made with zesty lemon time from a small family farm in
0:33.3	province and essential oils from herbs that grow in the Mediterranean sunshine.
0:39.5	So, if three quarters of your G&T is a fever tree tonic, maybe it's time to call it a TNG.
0:48.4	Fever tree. Mix with the best.
0:52.7	Ooh, that takes me straight to the med.
0:55.9	The weather. Tomorrow, expect a?
0:58.8	Biting cold front.
1:00.1	Hmm, how naughty.
1:01.5	I wonder what I'll be wearing or taking off.
1:04.5	The night will be wild and untamed.
1:06.7	Expect heavy, lashing rain that'll soak you to the skin.
1:10.5	By Monday, temperatures will rise slowly but surely reaching their peak in the afternoon.
1:16.7	Not in the mood for miserable weather?
1:18.9	Fly cheaply to Turkey with Sun Express.
1:21.8	Sun Express, non-stop sunshine.
1:26.2	Music Stop Sunshine.
1:48.6	In the time of the Emperor Descius in 251 AD, there broke out a dreadful plague, and excessive destruction of a hateful disease invaded every house. Carrying off day by day with abrupt
1:55.0	attack numberless people, all were shuddering, fleeing, shunning the contagion, impiously exposing their own friends.
2:04.3	Their lay about, meanwhile, over the whole city no longer bodies, but the carcasses of many.
	...

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